School Leadership

Akua Akyea is the Assistant Dean for Public Service at Cornell Law School. She serves as the primary contact for students and alumni interested in public services work. She counsels students and alumni on both domestic and international public interest opportunities and on ways to incorporate pro-bono in a corporate practice. Before coming to Cornell Law School, she was Assistant Dean of Career Services at the University of Iowa College of Law. Prior to that, she was at Yale Law School for five years as Director of Public Interest after nine years at Columbia Law School’s Social Justice Initiatives where she directed several public interest summer programs.

Akua is a graduate of the University of Iowa Law School where she was on the Journal of Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems and a member of the Legal Clinic working on asylum petitions and §1983 cases.

She has presented on international public interest careers, working with public interest alumni, and supporting students’ social justice goals at National Association for Law Placement (NALP) and Equal Justice Works conferences. Akua has also worked on issues of cross-cultural communication and diversity, is a trained mediator, and served as a counselor for at-risk high school students through the Upward Bound Project. Akua has traveled and lived in several countries in Europe, East and West Africa, and North America.

Education

B.A., University of Iowa, 1993
J.D., University of Iowa College of Law, 1997

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John R. DeRosa is the Associate Dean for Career Services and an Adjunct Professor of Law at Cornell Law School. He oversees the Career Services Office – providing comprehensive career counseling to students and alumni while managing the law school’s job fair and on-campus recruiting program. He also dedicates a great deal of time to developing and maintaining relationships with the many employers that actively recruit at Cornell. Dean DeRosa teaches two externship courses as an adjunct professor of law, and also serves as the faculty advisor to several student organizations.

Dean DeRosa has served as Chair of the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools’ Section on Student Services. In addition, he has been an active member of the National Association for Law Placement (“NALP”) since 1995, and recently served as Vice-Chair of NALP’s Emerging Legal Jobs Working Group. He is currently a member of Cornell University’s Council on Mental Health and Welfare, the Student Disability Services Advisory Committee and the Health Careers Evaluation Committee. Dean DeRosa practiced corporate law in New York City from 1992 to 1995 while a member of the New York and New Jersey bars. He graduated summa cum laude from Brooklyn Law School and also holds a Bachelor of Science in Industrial and Labor Relations from Cornell University.

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Martha Fitzgerald is the Associate Dean for Communications at Cornell Law School. She oversees marketing and communications efforts to help achieve the school’s strategic goals. During her tenure, she has developed a comprehensive communications and brand strategy encompassing all programs and activities at the Law School.

Prior to joining the Law School in 2006, Associate Dean Fitzgerald was the Lead Web Designer for Cornell University. Previously, she was Creative and Art Director at the University of California San Francisco and Senior Designer for the Gap, Inc.

She received her B.F.A. in Graphic Design from the College of Art & Design in Dublin, Ireland. In addition, she has training in brand management, leadership, and management from U.C. Berkeley.

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Shawn Gavin is the Associate Dean for Alumni Affairs and Development. Prior to joining Cornell Law School in October 2017, Shawn spent six years at Northwestern University, most recently as Director of Development at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, where, among other priorities, he has supported the Center on Practice Engagement and Innovation and the Searle Center on Law, Regulation and Economic Growth. Shawn started at Northwestern University as the chief development officer for the School of Education and Social Policy. Prior to that, Shawn’s career spanned the nonprofit sector, including leadership roles at Lawrence Hall Youth Services and Voices for Illinois Children, as well as five years at the Alford Group, a national fundraising consultancy. Shawn’s volunteer work includes leading educational and mentoring programs for the Chicago Association of Fundraising Professionals and serving as a Court Appointed Special Advocate in Cook County foster care system.

Education

B.A., Kalamazoo College, 1996
M.B.A., Northwestern Kellogg Graduate School of Management, 2015

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Aimée Houghton is the Assistant Dean for Graduate Legal Studies at Cornell Law School. She serves as the primary contact for LL.M. and J.S.D. students, managing both admissions and student services. Prior to joining Cornell, she oversaw the Career Planning Center at the University of Connecticut School of Law. She has over sixteen years of experience in law student advisement and law school administration. Assistant Dean Houghton is admitted to practice before state courts in both New York and Connecticut. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the New York State Bar Association, and the Connecticut Bar Association, as well as the National Association for Legal Career Professionals (NALP). She served as president of the Connecticut Association of Legal Recruitment Administrators (CALRA) from 2012-2014.

Assistant Dean Houghton received both her undergraduate degree in fine arts and art history, and her law degree from UConn.

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Monica Ingram joined Cornell Law School on July 1, 2015. She previously ran the Office of Admissions and Financial Aid at The University of Texas School of Law for more than a decade.

Monica received a BA, magna cum laude, from Grambling State University and a JD from The University of Texas School of Law. She has extensive board service, including membership on the BARBRI Advisory Board, Law School Admission Council (LSAC), Austin Black Lawyers Association, Austin Bar Association, National Bar Association, Student Leaders Pursuing Law Advisory Board, St. James Episcopal School and as an American Corporate Partners (ACP) mentor.

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Ofer Leshed joined Cornell Law School in June 2016 as Associate Dean for Administration and Finance. He serves as a senior level member of the administration, directing financial, accounting, budgeting, human resources, information technologies and facilities operations at the Law School.

Previously, Ofer served for three years as the Director of Finance and Budget at the College of Engineering at Cornell, concurrently serving as Interim Associate Dean for Administration for almost a year. Prior to that, he worked for eight years at Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine in a variety of roles, including as Director of Administration and Finance for the Cornell University Hospital for Animals. Before coming to Cornell, Ofer served in various lead finance positions in the Israeli defense/hi-tech industry.

Ofer holds a B.A. in Economics and Business Administration and an M.B.A. from Haifa University in Israel.

Contact Information

See Odette Lienau’s faculty profile.

See Beth Lyon’s faculty profile.

Markeisha Miner joined Cornell Law School on July 1, 2015 as Dean of Students. Previously, she served as Assistant Dean of Career Services and Outreach at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, overseeing all aspects of career planning and professional development. Prior to that, she practiced as a commercial litigator in Dickinson Wright PLLC’s Detroit office where she was an inaugural member of the firm’s Diversity Committee and co-authored the firm’s Diversity Mission Statement, and clerked for the Honorable Anna Diggs Taylor on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Markeisha earned her B.A., magna cum laude, at Mount Holyoke College and her J.D. at the University of Michigan Law School. As a law student, she served as Executive Editor of the Michigan Journal of Race & Law, Placement Chair of the Black Law Student Alliance, and a student attorney in Michigan’s Legal Assistance for Urban Communities Clinic, where she assisted community development organizations in Detroit with their transactional legal needs. She also completed an externship at the Commission on Gender Equality in Durban, South Africa.

Markeisha is active in several bar and community organizations including the American Bar Association’s Tort, Trial & Insurance Practice Section, which selected her for its 2008-2009 Leadership Academy; the State Bar of Michigan, where she served on the Character & Fitness Committee; and, the Wolverine Bar Association, which honored her with its Margrette A. Taylor Distinguished Young Lawyer Award in 2007. In 2010, the Michigan Chronicle named her as a Young History Maker, and Michigan Lawyers Weekly honored her as one of its 2013 Women in the Law.

She has served on the Board of Trustees for the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan Foundation and the Board of Directors for Alternatives for Girls. Markeisha is also a member of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP).

Contact Information

See Kim Nayyer’s faculty profile.

See Jens Ohlin’s faculty profile.

Elizabeth K. Peck is the Assistant Dean for Judicial Engagement and Professional Development. Liz serves as Cornell Law School’s principal liaison to federal and state judges and supervises the clerkship-application process for student and alumni candidates. She also leads the establishment of stand-alone professional development programming and assists in integrating professional-development training into the curriculum. Liz is an adjunct faculty member who co-teaches an at-home seminar, “Women in the Law.”

Prior to May 2015, she was the Director of Public Service and from July 2004 to June 2009, Assistant Dean Peck was the Director of Career Services. Before coming to Cornell, she worked at the Washington and Lee University School of Law from 1999-2004: for four years Assistant Dean Peck was the Director of Career Services, having served her first year there as the Assistant Director. She began her work in the field at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, where she was a Career Counselor from 1997-1999. Assistant Dean Peck clerked for the Honorable Judge Richard D. Savell in Fairbanks, Alaska and litigated employment matters at Perkins Coie in Seattle, WA.

She was a founder and first president of the Finger Lakes Women’s Bar Association. Assistant Dean Peck is also a member of the Washington State Bar Association and the Tompkins County (NY) Bar. She is active in NALP, the National Association for Law Placement, having served on NALP’s Research Advisory Group, Ethics and Standards Advisory Group as well as its Alternative Careers and Career Pathways for Lawyers Committees. Assistant Dean Peck received her J.D. from the Duke University School of Law in 1994 and graduated from Tufts University, magna cum laude, with a B.A. in Economics and International Relations in 1991.

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Fouad Saleet joined Cornell Law School in April 2020 as the new Assistant Dean for External Education and Jack G. Clarke Executive Director of International and Comparative Legal Studies. Prior to joining the Law School, he served as the Director of Special Programs and Professional Studies for Cornell’s School of Continuing Education.

Fouad has a broad range of experience amassed by working close to 20 years in higher education, including at top tier institutions such as Dartmouth College and Colgate University. At Dartmouth, he worked in student services within residential life, and assisted faculty house advisors working with Academic Affinity Living Learning Communities. At Colgate, he served as the Assistant Dean for Campus Life, overseeing several departments responsible for the co-curricular experiences of all students on campus, and also spent time as an Administrative Dean, working with students to maximize their Colgate experience.

Prior to coming to Cornell, Fouad worked at Pearson Education in a variety of functions, including developing online curriculum and course work for several schools across the Northeast. He also helped several institutions launch their online degrees.

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See Chantal Thomas’s faculty profile.